Second Life
by The Cat's Paw
Summary: There were things just out of his reach, memories that were his, and yet weren't. It wasn't until he met the strange masked man that he started to remember, and along the way as he found others to stand beside him. Was the legend of the Yellow Flash destined to rise once more? Eventual MinaSaku. Non canon, T rated.
1. Prologue

**Hiya! A new fic! This idea occurred to me based solely on the image that flashed in my brain of Minato as a child doing calligraphy. From there it just kinda expanded into this idea.**

 **Any-who, this is an _eventual_ MinaSaku, and I'm mainly gonna focus off of the romance at first. So don't go expecting things like shy hand-holding and cute blushes (no matter how much they may make you squeal) and have a bit of patience, please. I want this to be a long fic. Well, long for me, anyway. :P**

 **In any case disclaimer that I don't own, and enjoy!**

 _ **Second Life**_

 **Prologue**

He sat seiza before the chabudai, hand flowing through the kanji he transcribed to the delicate paper before him. The characters were perfect, right down to the smallest inflections. A look of concentration was upon the child's face as he worked, and once he was done, his features relaxed and he sat back, examining his composition.

"Perfectly done, Minato-kun," a voice said, and the boy looked up to see his caretaker smiling down at him.

"Thank you, Hakuku-oji," the boy, Minato said, then he asked. "Are the lessons over now?"

Hakuku smiled. "Eager to get out and play with Toru-kun?" he asked with a grin, and the boy before him flushed.

"I-I just wanted to…" Minato stuttered through his excuse, and Hakuku laughed heartily.

"It's alright, Minato-kun," he told him, ruffling his hair and earning a disgruntled look from the boy. "There's nothing wrong with wanting to play with your friends. In any case, Toru-kun should be home soon, the Academy lets its students out around about now."

At the mention of the Academy, a brief shadow fell over the boy's face, and Hakuku resisted the pang that hit him at that look. Minato had been looking forward to going to the Academy, especially once Hakuku's son Toru, who was actually a year older than him, had started going, and came back with all sorts of fantastic tales. But going to the Academy had never been an option for Minato.

Nine years ago, after the retired Sandaime had been forced to retake the Hat after the Yondaime's death, Hakuku had been shocked when the man had brought a small child to him to care for. At first he'd thought it was _that_ child, the one the rumours had started going on about. But then his Uncle Hiruzen had taken him aside and, after swearing him to all kinds of secrecy, told him the _whole truth_.

On that fateful night, the Yondaime Hokage, Namikaze Minato, aka Kiiroi Senkō, sealed the Kyuubi no Kitsune into his own son, fully intending that his soul should be sealed into the belly of the shinigami. And yet, that wasn't what had happened. When Hiruzen and his team had come upon the scene, they'd found the newborn Naruto there, as they'd expected, and found Kushina's body, as they'd feared.

But they hadn't expected to find a de-aged Yondaime there, wailing alongside his newborn son, reduced to being a baby once more.

Hakuku sighed as he looked down at the morose Minato before him. The boy knew nothing of his 'past life', that was a decision that Hiruzen had made once it was revealed that he didn't actually remember anything about it in the first place. Once Hakuku learned the truth of Naruto's parentage, and realised, _truly realised_ , what it was that Minato had done to save them all, he would have taken in Naruto as well. But the Elder Council had stonewalled them all on that one, refusing the request and placing Naruto in an orphanage.

That whole thing _reeked_ of Danzou's influence.

Minato, meanwhile, was placed with a loving family, having no idea about how Naruto was being treated by the ignorant villagers, of which a shameful Hakuku knew he'd likely have been if he hadn't learned the truth…

He sighed and placed a hand on Minato's shoulder. "Go out to the gardens, I'm sure Toru-kun will be along soon."

Minato sighed and nodded, used, by now, to the fact that he wasn't going to be an Academy student. He instead had a slew of tutors, who were really here just to 'remind' him of what he already knew. In fact, he picked things up so easily, learned them so quickly, he likely would have broken every record they had for prodigies and geniuses, if it weren't for the point that he was simply 're-learning' these things.

Once Minato left the room, Hakuku let out a frustrated sigh and hoped that, if Minato ever regained all of his memories, that he could forgive them all for the treatment of his son.

 **So how was it? Review please!**

 _G_ lossary:

 _Seiza: A sitting position where you sit on your knees._

 _Chabudai: Short legged table used in Japanese homes._

 _Kiiroi Senkō:_ _Yellow Flas_ _h_


	2. Chapter One

**So, I'm powering through the updates today. ;) This is the third one I've updated now. Yay for me!**

 **In any case, there's a bit of a time skip here. The prologue had a nine year old Minato, now he's recently turned twelve. Minato's birthday is apparently January twenty five, and this chapter starts roughly mid February.**

 **Anyway, disclaimer that I don't own and enjoy! :)**

 **Chapter One**

The village was alive with activity as the sun shone brilliantly down upon them. Shinobi traversed the rooftops, or the streets, going about their daily routines and training. Civilians strolled peacefully along the streets, hawkers crying their wares in the markets, children running freely along, enjoying the freedom to _be_ children. Businesses thrived, whether shinobi or civilian, schools were filled with happy children, even if they did groan about being inside all day.

One of those children was Minato. Well, he wasn't in a classroom, but he was indoors, cooped up and learning from his tutor. Ichiyo-sensei had him scheduled to run through his meditation techniques today, so the house was quiet but for the ticking of a clock and the chirping of a bird outside a window.

Minato breathed in steadily, listening to the chakra inside of him. It flared, eased back, then flared again. He did this every day, it was a part of his training schedule, and since he'd started years ago, his reserves were up to about above average for a gennin level ninja. His control was really good, up in the eighty fifth percentile. His ability to sense chakra was also strong. Ichiyo-sensei had told him that he was a natural at it.

At this particular point, Minato could sense and identify everyone in the Sarutobi complex. Well, the latter part was mostly because he knew quite a few of them. Further out into the village, Minato could sense people's individual chakra, though he naturally couldn't identify them all without having met them. He felt the Sandaime's chakra, all the way over at the Hokage tower. And Toru's over at the Academy, along with a lot of other signatures that were clearly children who were ninja-in-training as well.

There was one particular signature he'd found a couple of years ago, back when he'd first been able to differentiate the chakra signatures of the village into individuals. He'd been nine at the time, and expanding his senses had been exhilarating. It had been dark, heavy, and he'd pulled back at the terrible feeling that had welled up in him. He'd almost been too afraid to extend his senses again, not wanting to feel such hate and anger again.

But he'd done it, and had soon discovered there was a kind of duality to the signature. Yes, there was the dark hatred and malice, but it was being kept in check by a chakra so bright and cheery, that Minato hardly needed to search for it to find it. Whomever this person was, they seemed to be a living representative of the dichotomy of light and dark. At least, that was how it seemed to his senses.

Right now, that signature was running all over the village, and Minato, who felt an almost insatiable curiosity well inside him, opened his eyes and looked out the nearby window. They weren't far from the complex… Maybe he could go get a peek at whomever it was with this odd chakra signature?

Ichiyo-sensei wasn't here right now… Making a snap decision, Minato stood and headed for the window, jumping out onto the tree that was right outside, suppressing his chakra the way Ichiyo-sensei had shown him, and heading off to where the person was.

Slipping past the complex guards, Minato soon found himself out in the village and on his own for the first time ever. Normally someone was with him. It was such a novel experience that he got distracted by it a few times and lost track of the chakra. But it was easy to find again, and he'd follow. Soon, it became apparent that someone was chasing them, though he had no idea why. Eventually Minato reached the street the person was in, though he couldn't see them anywhere.

A few chuunin and jounin ran by in a search pattern, and once they passed, Minato got to see the person they were chasing. A camouflage was dropped, and a grinning _child_ stood there, cheering that he'd eluded them. Minato was so _shocked_ that the person with all that chakra was only a child about the same age as him, that it took a moment to realise that the boy looked a lot like him. Blond hair, blue eyes from what he could see when the boy briefly opened them once. Their facial features were different, the boy's face was rounder than Minato's, for one, his skin tone a tad darker, and there were three strange whisker marks on each cheek…

"Ha ha ha!" the kid laughed. "They'll never catch me, the great Uzumaki Naruto!"

 _Uzumaki?_

"Oh really?" a voice said, and Minato startled a little at it (though not as much as 'Naruto' did).

"Aah! Iruka-sensei!" Naruto yelled. "I-I uh… I can explain!"

"Oh really?" Iruka asked. "You're going to explain to me why you're out here in the village, instead of in class _where you're supposed to be_?"

"I-er-uh…"

The Academy? So he was a student there, like Toru, then? Minato wondered if his friend knew the kid, and made a mental note to ask him.

"I really don't have time to spare to keep chasing you down, Naruto," Iruka was saying as he grabbed Naruto practically by the scruff. "Come on, back to class then."

The Academy teacher (that was Minato's guess, it was most likely correct) then took off with a loudly complaining Naruto, leaving Minato there to think about what he'd learned. So. The insane chakra belonged to an Academy student, about the same age as he was, maybe a little younger. He was an Uzumaki, which kind of fit with what he'd learned of their massive chakra reserves and vitality. He still didn't have an answer about what the malignant chakra was, but he was glad to have a face and name to go with it.

Suddenly Minato sensed another chakra, one that seemed familiar, but he could swear he'd never felt it before. Not counting when he'd just let his sense roam over the village, of course. Turning, he saw a jounin standing in the shadows. He was slightly taller than Hakuku-oji, though not as well-built as him, slender and lean, with silver hair that seemed to defy gravity with how it stuck up. He looked as familiar as his chakra had felt. One dark grey eye stared over at the spot Naruto had previously occupied. That sense of familiarity was strong, strong enough to keep Minato rooted to the spot.

The shinobi hadn't sensed him, that was good. He was currently hidden, his chakra still repressed. But even as he thought that, the man looked his way, eye narrowed like he was trying to see something hidden. See _Minato_ hiding there. He took a step forward, Minato took a step back, then cursed himself for doing that as the man's eye trained _directly_ on the spot where he was.

"Who's there?" he demanded in an authoritative tone. "Show yourself."

Instinctively Minato obeyed that order and stepped forward, out of the shadows and into the light. The man's sole visible eye widened at the sight of him, shock evident in that dark grey orb.

"Impossible," the man breathed. "You look just like… But it can't be! He's dead… Tell me, what's your name?"

"Uh, Minato," the boy in question told him. "My name's Minato, shinobi-san. Um… May I ask, who is it that I look like?"

The man shook his head. "Impossible," he repeated. "You _can't_ be… Sensei's gone, there's no way…"

 _Sensei_? Did this shinobi have a sensei once that looked like him? Was there family out there, _biological_ family? No, he said whoever it was, was dead… Minato stared into the man's still shocked eye, then winced when a sharp pain shot through his skull. His vision blurred and he _saw_ something vision-like before his eyes…

" _So, when am I going to meet this new student of mine?" he asked._

 _The Sandaime smiled serenely before him, puffing on his pipe. "Naoto, bring Kakashi-kun in, would you?"_

 _The Hokage's aide bowed and left the room briefly, returning with the child that Minato had seen waiting outside the office. "Minato, this is Hatake Kakashi, your new student. Treat him well."_

What the heck was that? Minato looked up at the man before him, seeing the similarities between him and that strange boy in the 'vision' and couldn't stop himself from speaking that name.

"…Kakashi?"

 **So what did you think? Review please!**


	3. Chapter 3

Hi!

After thinking about this for awhile, and on the advice of a fellow fanfiction writer (aka my sister) this update is to inform you that this story has now moved over to my new profile, thatsnotmyname32.

I thank you all for your support here, and hope that you will continue to do so at the new profile.

Thank you. :)


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